Abba Kaka: Nigeria Must Do Its Homework To Secure UN Security Council Seat 

Public Policy Analyst and Development Expert, Abba Kaka, has said that while Nigeria is eminently qualified for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, the country is not doing the necessary groundwork to achieve it.

Speaking in an interview with ARISE News on Friday, Kaka said:“The issue of a permanent seat is very dicey, in the sense that a permanent seat at the United Nations is not a joke. You have to do your homework. Are we doing our homework? Right now, for the past two and a half years, we don’t have ambassadors anywhere, so who is speaking for Nigeria? That’s another issue.”

He stressed that while Vice President Kashim Shettima made an eloquent case for Nigeria at the UN General Assembly, the country’s diplomatic machinery is too weak to back such ambitions.

“In the speech, he also mentioned the issue of debt relief, as well as the permanent seat. But when you are looking for debt relief, you don’t want to show your vulnerability. That is a game of big numbers and big players at that level. As a student of international relations, I can also tell you that you don’t get a permanent seat just like that by wishing to get it. You have to have a concrete, strategic move being pushed by your diplomats. Right now, we don’t have diplomats anywhere. It is very unfortunate for two and a half years that diplomats are missing.”

Kaka warned that Nigeria’s rivals on the continent are already taking advantage of this vacuum.

“We have our competitors, like Egypt, South Africa and Tunisia, who have been at the world stage. Nigeria is eminently qualified to get the seat, don’t get me wrong. But what we have is history, historical records. Currently speaking, South Africa, that we actually saved from the apartheid regime, is right now, economically speaking, in front of Nigeria. Diplomatically speaking, they are way ahead of us — and it shouldn’t be like that.”

He insisted that Nigeria must return to the fundamentals of effective diplomacy if it truly intends to sit at the top table of the UN.

“We have fine diplomats, extremely distinguished and experienced diplomats, but we have to do the homework. We have to get back to the basics. Are we really serious about getting this permanent seat, even though the five permanent members are actually not willing to yield? For obvious reasons of how the United Nations itself was set up since the Second World War. The Vice President has done well by giving the speech, but you don’t get it just by wishing it,”he said.

Boluwatife Enome 

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